What can we do but survive?
Hello Reader,
I see that very few stories on syosetu.com are published in English, however there are Light Novels I enjoy that were originally published here. Since I was largely inspired by these Light Novels, I thought it would be fun to publish my own stories here as well. (Perhaps interacting on this site will even help me learn some Japanese) The Isekai genre is hot right now, so I figure I'll jump on the bandwagon.
I know that a lot of Isekai focus on grand high fantasy worlds, godly powers, and video game references, but this will be a much darker world influenced by the mythology and local folk tales that I grew up with... Perhaps with some themes borrowed from the more dramatic Japanese Isekai I'm familiar with. If you are reading this, I hope you enjoy.
Thanks!
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"Well, This is embarrassing." I silently fume through gritted teeth.
The crunch of late autumn leaves underfoot is the only sound coming from my environment. I stop walking and the forest falls into silence, save only my own heavy breath.
I take a deep breath and let it out. The air trembles as it passes my lips, and I finally realize the tension I've been holding in my body. I'm scared. I don't want to admit it, but underneath the incredible sense of foolishness I feel, I'm actually scared.
"Aaagh! How could this happen?" I look around the forest, just as I've been doing for the past hour, expecting my eyes to show me that obvious sign of familiarity I overlooked that will lead me back to my camp. I know these woods so well, I'll recognize it immediately, the tension will leave my body, I'll laugh at my own foolishness, and rejoin my friends with a well crafted excuse about how I wanted to explore before returning to camp. I didn't get lost. No way. Not me.
Of course I don't see a familiar sign. I see the same thing I've seen since I got lost. Tall thick trees that stand straight to heavens with silver grey bark. They remind me of Tulip Poplar trees, but far taller, and far larger. The forest floor is made of a carpet of leaves with clusters of large green ferns scattered about. Far from the oak and pine forest I expected to see.
It's not just the sights, however. Every signal from every sense and intuition tells me that this is not my familiar forest. The air is still, for one. Rather than the constant wind blowing through the mountain valleys, and causing the tree limbs and canopies to dance up above, this forest rests in a stiff and somber silence. The smell of the air is not crisp and bracing, rather it's heavy with the odor of decomposing leaves and ferns. It reminds me of a lowland swamp, though not quite so pungent. The shape of the mountains is different as well. Rather than the short craggily hills bearing their rocky faces, this environment is smooth and pillowy.
I had taken my university friends to these woods specifically because I knew them so well. I knew the secret waterfalls, I knew the plateaus with gorgeous views, I knew the ancient trees that had stood as long as the hills themselves. While everyone else was studying, or going to bars, or working at their internships, I came here. It was my home far more than the cheap apartment I rented in the industrial district of our small city. In fact I probably slept underneath these trees as much as I slept in my own bed.
The dread churning in my stomach insisted on the one thing I refused to believe. These are not my woods.
I'm not lost because I took a wrong turn. I know every landmark in these woods, and have every trail written on my heart. It's impossible for me to get lost in my woods, so these must not be my woods. I don't know these trees, or the shape of their leaves. Sure, I've seen ferns like this much farther north, but never in my familiar forest.
I gulp. Am I going mad? Is this some sort of delusion? I shake the thought from my mind tossing my thick wavy black hair in the process. "No. Impossible. I don't know what's going on, but I have to keep my head clear." I take another look at my surroundings. "Ok Leigh." I tell myself. "You're lost. What do you?" I take another deep breath and try to sigh out my tension. Ignoring the part of my brain telling me how impossible this all seems, I start listing out my goals.
"Step one, get a vantage point and survey my surroundings." I state. I climb the nearest hill and realize that's going to be harder than it seems. The hills are all far shorter than the trees, and the tree trunks are both too wide, and too sparse to climb up for a better view.
Continuing on, I tell myself. "Step two, find a body of water, and follow it downstream. Population goes up the closer you are to large bodies of water, and larger bodies of water are usually downstream." From this hill I can't see any water... But that doesn't mean it's not flowing beneath the leaves. I quiet my breath, close my eyes, and listen. Usually it'd be quite hard to hear water. The rustle of the wind through autumn leaves often sounds quite a bit like running water, but the air is so still I... I think I can hear something. Soft distant trickling. Flowing water. I turn my head left and right, trying to hone in on the source of the sound. It's probably only a small spring, or maybe just trickling weather drainage, but that'll still be useful.
I start walking, trudging through the leaves. Every dozen steps I pause and listen until... Found it. It's hidden beneath the leaves, but I can barely identify the dark trail of damp leaves tracing a path between the hills.
Not sure of what else to do. I start following the stream.
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"DAMMIT!" I shout. "Damn Damn Damn DAMMIT!" I punched one of the nearby trees. Not that it did me any good. If anything it just made my knuckles hurt, which just made me angrier.
"This is so stupid! How could I be so stupid?" My face flushed red as a cocktail of negative emotions flowed through my veins. My temper mixed with my burnished red hair and sharper features made for an intense, even intimidating, personality... or so I've been told. I don't know what their big deal is though. Lots of people get made when things don't go their way. Let's pay no mind to my scraped and bloody knuckles from punching the tree.
I had really been enjoying our camping adventure. Good drinks, decent food, bonfires, I had even hit it off with one of the girls. what's not to love? I just had to take a piss. This deep in the woods, there's no plumbing, you just go when nature calls. Up and over the hill I went. I could still hear the rest of the gang laughing and cutting up back at camp. Once I had a bit of privacy I take care of business, turn around, go back over the hill I had JUST CLIMBED and... Nothing. Camp is nowhere to be seen. I couldn't hear anything anymore. Had I gone the wrong way somehow?
That was over 2 hours ago. "Guys!" I called out for the hundredth time. "Can anybody hear me?" Only my echo responded, but even that seemed distant and muted. I had been trudging through the woods for a while now. I had tried to stay in the same general vicinity, and just look around the place I got lost, but the more I looked without finding anyone, the further I strayed from my starting point. If I wasn't lost before, I certainly was now. The forest didn't even look the same! I must have strayed off into an entirely different region.
"Rowan?" I distant voice called back. "Is that you?"
About damn time! I sort of expected Leigh to be the one to find me. He knew this place pretty well after all. I started off at a jog in the direction of the cry. Cresting the next hell I leaned over panting, and smiled as he came into view. "Hey Leigh. Just thought I'd take a look around a bit. Didn't mean to worry you." I lied. No way was I about to admit that I got lost using the bathroom. Not to him. Only... He didn't smirk, or tease me, or call my bluff like I expected. He just stared.
"Hey Leigh. Uhh. You want to head back to camp now?" I smirked prompting him to lead me back without admitting my folly. "Or are you already out of breath? I'm not even winded." I teased him to get him moving as I stood tall with an arrogant smirk on my lips
He still didn't smile. My body went cold. "Hey what's up? Did something happen back at camp, are the girls ok?"
He looked away, and for a few tense heartbeats said nothing. At last he spoke. "Our camp isn't here."
"What's that mean?" I retorted. "Yeah, I know camp isn't exactly right here." I gestured to the ground between us.
"No" he shook his head. "I mean. I don't know where we are. This isn't the forest we were camping in." I stared at him in disbelief, and he continued. "I would know. there's nothing like this in a hundred miles... Hell, I don't know if I've seen anything like this anywhere before."
"Dude," I chuckled. "I know I haven't been walking that long."
"Me neither." He replied with a chilling tone. "But we're still somewhere else entirely."
"Hey, cut it out. I'm hungry and it's getting dark out, let's just go back to camp already." My expression was flat, and an edge of tension had crept into my voice. Leigh wasn't the type to pull pranks, and I was getting sick of this one... But his own expression only turned more grim.
I gulped nervously.
